My daughter got gum stuck in her hair the other day when she fell asleep with it in her mouth (I thought that was a myth, but it really does happen).  Since she was out for the night (yes, I'm a bad parent and she had sugar free gum right before bed), I decided to wait until morning.  It wasn't at the end where it could easily be cut, it was right by the root, and in a lot of hair. Ugh! 

The next day I grabbed some olive oil (we were camping), and put some on my fingers and rubbed it in her hair.  Just to see if it was working i tried to remove some of the gum with my fingers, and it seemed to be coming out ok.  I put more olive oil on the area, and all of the gum pulled right out of her hair! Not in one bunch, but in several passes pinching my fingernails together.  If one had a comb and olive oil combo, it would work like a charm.

As the mom of five kids age 11 and under, I have had a lot of experience dealing with little ones. It takes an enormous amount of time and energy to get my family up, dressed, and ready to leave in the morning, whether it is to school or somewhere else. Many times, I have been hustling my family out the door and the 3 year-old (or even one of the slightly older ones) insists on taking some toy or other random object that I would rather leave at home. Sometimes the thing is a lightning rod for potential conflict (like candy) or dangerous (like a stick) or bulky (like a scooter) or messy (like makeup). Here's what I do:

1. The first step is to admire the object. I will ask to see it, and praise how interesting, or fun or cool it is. ("Wow! What a great stick! It is so smooth, and you can do so many things with it!")

2. Then, I personalize the object. I assign it a name and an age. Most things are babies; this works particularly well with girls (I have four). ("Stickie is so nice, but he is tired now from all the playing.")

3. Next, I give the reason that the object has to stay home. ("Stickie needs to take a nap now so you can play with him later.")

4. Last, I involve the child in taking care of the object so it can "rest" while we are gone. ("Let's put a blankie on Stickie so he isn't cold. OK, tuck him in now and give him a kiss. Say bye.")

Voila! No more arguing, or temper tantrums around taking the forbidden item in the car.

We're mostly past this stage in my house, but I'm giggling because I can just imagine my kids jumping in and elaborating on the story, thereby delaying us even more. "Actually, Mom, Stickie isn't tired. He needs to go outside so he can breathe and see the other trees. No, really. Sticks die when left indoors for too long. Besides, he gets scared when he's alone..."

We have so many bibs and no storage space for them. We noticed there was a bar on the back of our high chair that could hold all our bibs! They are out of site and exactly where we need them when we need them!

We had a bunch of neighbor kids over and ran out of dress-up dresses and skirts... so we took one of our play sweater ponchos and just used it as a skirt. This particular poncho has a tie around the collar, so we were able to tie it a little tighter to cinch it around the waist when worn.

Everyone was happy and we were back to our tea party :)

Back when my kids were babies, we'd keep a box of baby wipes on the kitchen table to use for post-mealtime cleanup. Once the kids got older, the wipes dried up because they just weren't getting used as much.

But we still occasionally have sticky messes (like when the kids drink the melted ice cream out of a bowl of ice cream and manage to get ice cream on their foreheads) that could use some wet wiping. So one day my daughter had sticky fingers after dinner and I had an idea - I spritzed her hands with the water spraying bottle that I keep at the table (for taming my son's hair in the mornings), had her rub her hands together like she was washing them, and then she wiped them off on her cloth napkin. Voila! No more sticky hands!

The kids will even let me spritz their faces to get the ice cream off their foreheads - probably because it's such a novelty for mom to spray them with water at the dinner table. And it doesn't end there! At the end of the meal, I grab one of the dirty napkins and the water spritzer, spritz the sticky mess on the table and wipe clean with the cloth napkin. The napkin goes into the laundry and everything is clean!

If you're like me, your gold coffee filter is sitting, forgotten, at the back of the kitchen cupboard. Brooke put hers to use simplifying oatmeal baths:

I've found that the very best thing for my toddler's occasional diaper rash is a warm water soak with oatmeal. The creamy water really seems to soothe the irritation, and a good soak all but removes the red of a nasty rash. My go-to oat holders used to be cheesecloth or old stockings, but the goopy mess afterward was totally gross. Then I decided to give our gold cone coffee filter a try. Perfection! I fill it about 1/3 full with plain oatmeal, then hook it over the faucet in the tub using the handy-dandy black handle. No oats in the tub, no goopy mess to clean up afterward, and no more toddler diaper rash!

Unhook your mind from the topic of diaper rash for a moment. Now then, I'll share another good use for a gold cone coffee filter: yogurt cheese maker. Yogurt cheese is simply yogurt that has been left to drain its whey till all that's left is a thick, cream cheese-like blob (believe me, it's a lot more appetizing than it sounds). Great base for dips, spreads and dessert toppings (try mixing it with powdered sugar and a dash of cardamom. YUM.).

To make yogurt cheese, balance the filter over a measuring cup or glass using whatever cone holder you've got. In a pinch, you can remove the holder from your coffeemaker (clean it first). Fill the filter with yogurt then let it drain in the fridge till it's as thick as you want.

My toddler wakes every night crying because she kicked off the blanket and is cold. I took another crib sheet and cut the elastic away except for the two corners on the ends. I tuck those corners under the mattress and let the rest of the sheet cover her. She can't kick it off as easily and it is lighter-weight than her blanket, so she stays warm (but not too warm).

We've completely eliminated the need for bath toys when traveling (and at home) by conjuring big bubbles from thin air. With baby shampoo on my hands (straight from the bottle, it is too hard to get the right consistency once it has been on a kid) I rub my hands together to get an even distribution. I flatten my hand with all the fingers together and then curl my fingers over into a C. At the same time I slide my thumb along my pointer finger to the tip creating a film of soap in the circle formed by thumb and pointer finger. (It's important not to pull the thumb's tip away from the pointer finger.) A light blow (the more dramatic the more magical) and then slide the thumb back into line with the hand to close the hole. Voila! I'm magic! And there's nothing up my sleeves. (In fact, sleeves just get wet. :)

Related: Lots of great tips in the Bathtime archive.

I just wanted to hop on and wish you a fun, fun day with your kids tomorrow. As with the winter holidays it's too easy to get caught up in the stress of preparation, or (curse the word) perfection. Your kids will have just as much fun without animatronic zombies in the front yard and Broadway show-worthy costumes. Whether they love the silly spookiness of it all, or they prefer handing out candy with you...enjoy it with them.

Happy Halloween!

Related: Best of Parent Hacks: Halloween tips

Not surprisingly, Henry (SON OF FINSLIPPY, which sounds like the title of a B movie thriller), is a prolific writer. Those of his stories that don't make it into the permanent Henry Library go straight into PowerPoint. I'll let Alice tell you all about it, because it's one of the most creative uses of PowerPoint I've ever seen. Also, she's much funnier than I am.

Related: About the Slideshare Parent Toolbox

YUM.

What are your pumpkin seed roasting secrets?